Question about submitting node with Apache Arrow dependency

Questions
1

Hello n8n team,

We’ve developed a custom node for n8n:

:backhand_index_pointing_right: @faim-group/n8n-nodes-faim

The node provides serverless time-series forecasting via our FAIM API.

Technically, our backend expects and returns data in the Apache Arrow IPC binary format (Content-Type: application/vnd.apache.arrow.stream), which allows very compact transfer of large tabular and time-series data.

:gear: The issue

We can safely remove all other dependencies — but Apache Arrow (apache-arrow) is essential for:

  • Serializing/deserializing Arrow IPC streams

  • Handling schema and field metadata

  • Efficiently transmitting columnar data (float64 arrays, timestamps, etc.)

Replacing Arrow with JSON or CSV would significantly degrade performance, since the payloads would grow by several megabytes per request.

:red_question_mark:Question

Is it possible to submit an n8n node that includes the apache-arrow dependency, or is there any approved workaround for heavy scientific/data packages like this?

If Arrow itself isn’t permitted, could you please suggest:

  • Whether it can be bundled or whitelisted

  • Or if there’s a recommended way to handle binary IPC streams efficiently within n8n nodes

Thank you for your help!

We’d love to make this node available publicly, as it brings large-model forecasting capabilities directly into n8n workflows.

Best regards,

Andrei Chernov

FAIM

faim.it.com

1 Like
3

so apache arrow itself is totally fine to include - n8n doesnt have restrictions on dependencies for community nodes, you just publish to npm and people install it. the main thing is making sure it builds correctly across different platforms since arrow has native bindings, but if it works in your testing you should be good to submit.

just document in your readme that the node requires apache-arrow and maybe the install size, so users know what theyre getting. you can submit community nodes here: n8n Integrations Documentation and Guides | n8n Docs